Greece’s balance of travel services posted a surplus of 3.15 billion euros in the first half of the year, up 8.5% y-o-y, final data from the Bank of Greece showed. The provisional data, released on August 22, had shown a travel surplus of 3.17 billion euros.

“This development is attributed primarily to an increase of 236 million euros or 6.2% in travel receipts and, to a lesser extent, to a decrease of 10 million euros or 1.1% in travel payments,” BoG said in a statement.

The rise in travel receipts in January-June 2017 over the same period of 2016 was driven by an increase in average expenditure per trip by about 25 euros or 5.3% (January-June 2017: 476 euros, January-June 2016: 451 euros), as well as by a 0.8% rise in the number of non-resident inbound visitors.

Greece needs to invest 5.5 billion euros in tourism between 2017 and 2023 to be able to cover the projected occupancy in line with its 15 year average, an NBG study said.

“Based on World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) long-term projections of the increase in tourism demand until 2023, it is estimated that about €5.5 bn of new investments (3.1% of 2015 GDP) in new hotel capacity and equipment will be needed in the years 2017-2023 to bring the projected occupancy in line with its 15-year average (83% in Q3),” the report noted.

Tourism has increased strongly since 2011, showing notable resilience to the macroeconomic headwinds. “The share of travel revenue in GDP, which is utilized as a simple measure of the direct contribution of international tourism to the economy, increased cumulatively by 2.1 pps to 7.6% of GDP in 2015 from 5.5% in 2011, with a direct support to GDP growth of 0.4% per year in 2011-2015.”

Still, NBG Research said it believes the direct impact of the tourism sector on GDP growth in recent years is significantly larger, as travel data based on surveys are becoming increasingly less reliable due to the use of more sophisticated payment methods.

NBG estimated that the value added of the sector increased by 3.5 pps of GDP between 2011 and 2015, 1.4 pps of GDP (and 62%) higher than the increase from the survey data,

Canadian-based miner Eldorado Gold said that it has suspended the largest part of its investment and development plans in Greece, after serious disagreements and confrontation with the Greek state which resulted in a serious of delays and suspension in the licensing of the projects.

“Hellas Gold is presently unable to complete its development plans in Halkidiki as a result of the actions and/or inactions of the Ministry and other agencies regarding the timely issuance of routine permits and licenses, which is not only a legal responsibility, but also a contractual obligation of the Greek State,” Eldorado Gold said in a statement on Monday.

Eldorado Gold said that construction and development activities at the Skouries Project in Chalkidiki will be suspended while refurbishment plans at Olympias Proeject also in Chalkidiki "are dependent on the Ministry granting the required installation permit."

For the Stratoni Mine, Eldorado said that it is currently evaluating the merits of implementing this programme in light of the current investment climate in Greece.

Eldorado has also decided to put Perama Hill and Sapes projects on care and maintenance with expenditures being kept at the minimum level required to preserve the title and rights to both projects.

]]>noreply@marketall.eu (Marketall)In-depthTue, 12 Jan 2016 09:38:29 +0000EC's Moscovici: Greece has still a way to go; Release of 2b euros this weekhttp://www.marketall.eu/in-depth-analysis/8802-ecs-moscovici-greece-has-still-a-way-to-go-release-of-2b-euros-this-week
http://www.marketall.eu/in-depth-analysis/8802-ecs-moscovici-greece-has-still-a-way-to-go-release-of-2b-euros-this-week

European Commissioner for Economics Pierre Moscovici said that Greece has “still a way to go” for completing the milestones of the first review but expressed his hope that the 2 billion euro sub-tranche will be releases this week, if not today.

“The moves are positive. Most of the milestones are already adopted or decided. There is still a way to go,” Moscovici said before the Eurogroup meeting.

He also said that the agreement will be reached “if not today then in the days to come.”

Unemployment slightly decelerated in April, with the jobless rate standing at 25.6% y-o-y compared to the upwardly revised reading of 25.8% in the previous month, seasonally-adjusted data from the National Statistics Service showed. In April 2014, the unemployment rate was revised to 27.0%.

The number of people out of work reached 1.22 million. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 78,759 y-o-y and by 11,848 persons since the end of the previous month.

Job seekers aged 15-24 years old, and women remained vulnerable, with jobless rate averaging 53.3% and 29.8% respectively versus 55.4% and 30.7% in the respective month of 2014.

“March’s survey once again highlighted how a lack of liquidity and cash flow issues are impeding general business operations, with job creation as well as the buying, stocking and delivery of inputs all affected. A recovery in the manufacturing sector necessitates progress on this front,”Phil Smith, economist at Markit said.

The index settled at 49.7 in March, down from 51.3 in February and its lowest reading so far this year. Still, the index posted its best quarterly average since the third quarter of 2008.

Greece needs to intensify its efforts to reach an agreement with the Troika mission which is currently reviewing the program, Eurozonde president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said ahead the finance ministers meeting on Thursday.

“It’s crucial that Greeks step up a little bit their efforts in order for us to reach an agreement, in order to push forward with the current program,” Dijsselbloem said.

“We need more progress before we can take further decisions. This is very important.”

As it has been widely reported, the ongoing dispute between Greece and its lenders is mainly the size of the fiscal gap in the 2014 budget.

The government sees the fiscal slippage at about 500 million euros against the Troika’s estimates which are for 2.0 to 2.5 billion euros. Greece has repeatedly stated that no further “horizontal” cuts can be applied but instead, the gap can be covered from targeted cuts especially in the social security funds.

Recall that the government has already voted into law fiscal cuts of around 4 billion euros for 2014 in order to meet the primary surplus target of 1.5% of GDP.